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| SAN MIGUEL REMEMBERED |
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“San Miguel residents, more than any other city that I’ve lived in, are all house proud. Everybody I know takes meticulous pride in their house and the improvements that are available to all of us, because of the plethora of brilliant workers and artisans.”
For almost four decades, all my creative energies were spent either figure skating on an Olympic level or painting at my easel. The scenario of coming to Mexico alone and buying a piece of real estate by myself would have been unthinkable, yet this is what I did. In retrospect, it probably was the only brilliantly clever thing I have ever done in my life. The securing of my San Miguel property was a painstaking process that took over a year before I was able to call the property my own. A terrifying detail of the purchase negotiations was that even after a year I still did not have all the money for the purchase. A Torontonian lawyer was stunned by the fact that I had paid what amounted to 80% of the asking price (in the hundreds of thousands of dollars), yet I had no documentation or receipt of payment. The thought that the vendors might have run away with all my money and professed never to have met me did indeed cross my mind. On a purely intellectual level, I made a pact with myself that if this were to be the case, I would have no alternative but to commit suicide in the most painless way I could think of. In the act of buying this Mexican property, I sensed that I was like a run-away race car careening down the highway without a driver. The miracle of it all, as it turned out, was that miraculously the car stayed on the road without incident. One of the most crucially important elements of property transaction is that unless you have your name on the escritura or deed, you don’t own anything, regardless of how much money has been recorded in the negotiation. After a year’s time, I was in residence in my new house, but I did not have my name on the official escritura. One day, I marched down the street to the legal offices of San Miguel’s most famous and feared lawyer. He clearly understood the nature of my concern and suggested to me in a matter-of-fact way, “Look, Mr. Cranston, if anybody scales the wall to take possession of your property, either phone the police or shoot them.” Truly, this is not what I wanted to hear. Against all odds and many financial and technical problems, I eventually took full possession of my property. The size of the property and numbers of buildings was daunting to me as the onus was clearly upon my shoulders to maintain the property. This became an even more frightening reality as my principal residence and career lay 4,000 miles to the north in Toronto, Canada. All is well that ends well and over a period of what now amounts to 18 years, the property was paid for, maintained and honed without incident.
Over time, there was never any doubt in my mind that I had made the right decision. Any property or house that cannot be creatively improved is a house that an enlightened owner would realize that it was time to sell. My property in San Miguel without a doubt became the most creative and challenging project of my life. A creative direction that I adhered to over a period of 20 years was the concern of changing my home so dramatically that I could destroy the very charm and essence of the house that had induced me to buy it in the first place. My downtown Toronto residence had 6,000 square feet of living space but virtually no garden. The understanding of living on a property with an immense garden with a growing season of 365 days a year was entirely new to me. The reality of living in a garden for me is a major advantage to improving one’s lifestyle and spirituality. The joy and pleasure of living in San Miguel has a great deal to do with the indoor-outdoor lifestyle that we enjoy.
San Miguel residents, more than any other city that I’ve lived in, are all house proud. Everybody I know takes meticulous pride in their house and the improvements that are available to all of us, because of the plethora of brilliant workers and artisans.
The 18 years of my life have passed very quickly. The habitual and ongoing process of rehabilitating my property is a process that seemingly never ends. I can’t help but wonder how my home has undergone so many artistic and architectural changes. Everything has been achieved, shall we say, with piecemeal economic resources. I am convinced that the most unique and original environments are ultimately achieved, fuelled by a lack of money. The upside of poverty is the fact that creative concepts can be intellectually distilled over time and therefore creative mistakes are less likely to occur. A neighbour of mine once paid for a luxurious garden to be planted in his new home in a matter of weeks. The quality of a painting or a garden is always measured by the personal time and love of the creator that is put into it. My home in San Miguel has been the most pleasant residence I have ever lived in. The fact that I reside in this home situated in one of the world’s most remarkable locations contributes in a major way to the years of enchantment that I have experienced. Sometimes, I ask tourists the question, “What’s not to like about San Miguel de Allende?” I always preempt them and answer the question before they can formulate an answer. My answer is, “Absolutely nothing.” 
